Ash-sifter.



No. 637,342. Patented Nov. 2|, I899. J. KELLER.

ASH SIFTER.

(Application filed Mar. 20, 1899.)

(No Modal.)

fiIIEET INVENTEHT.

JHCOB KELLER ATTY.

NITED STATES JACOB KELLER, on CLEVELAND, OHIO, AssicnoR OF ONE-HALF TO I WILLIAM L. CLARK, OF STATION FIFTEEN, OHIO.

ASH-SIFTER.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Lettex-s Patent No. 637,342, dated November 21, 1899. Application filed March 20, 1899. Serial-1N0. 709,745. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern;

' zen of the'United States, residing at Cleveland, in the county of Ouyahoga and State-of Ohio, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Ash-Sifters; and I do declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description ofthe invention, which will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

My invention relates to ash-sifters of the kind which are adapted to be used in a furnace before the ashes are removed therefrom, and is an improvement on the invention covered in Letters Patent of the United States, issued to me on the 20th day of November, 1894, No. 529,389.

Referring to the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 is a plan view of my improved ashsifter. Fig. 2 is a sectional side elevation showing the shovel, both in full and in dotted lines and in different positions, as hereinafter described. Fig. 3 is a rear elevation thereof.

In this construction the sifter takes the form substantially of a shovel, and the body thereof is formed with sides 2 of suitable elevation and an open-work bottom having a series of parallel strips 3, with intervening spaces 4 of substantially the same width, the said strips running from the front crossportion 5 of the shovel to the rear wall 6 thereof. In constructing this shovel the entire body A is struck up from a sheet of suitable metal, and a handle B is affixed thereto in shovel fashion and in'any convenient manner. In so far as these particulars are concerned there is no novelty alone; but I discovered the objection to the shovel which had no further means than these for reaching into the furnace, because the ashes would sift through the shovel off toward the furnace wall farthest from the entrance and there were no means in the shovel itself of reacbin g and removing them. I therefore conceived the idea of a false bottom 0, which extends entirely across the full width of the shovel and runs back to a point about one-half the length of the shovel, as seen in Fig. 2, and is flanged up at its sides against the sides of the shovel, so as to become a permanent part thereof.

The rear edge is turned down at c, as also plainly seen in Fig. 2.

D are side runners which are riveted or rigidly affixed on both sides of the shovel, but might be rotating members, if preferred, and between these runners is pivoted the ashmoving plate E, adapted when the shovel is drawn backward to swing against the edge of the plate 0, but free in'its opposite movement to swing as high as the strips 3, if necessary. Its lower edge is adapted to come substantially flush with the Working edges of the runners D. Now supposing that the shovel is to be put into use in a furnace and it be run back toward the rear wall thereof and is more or less loaded with ashes, it will be noticed that the ashes may sift onto the bottom 0, but they cannot get any farther, so that practically all the ashes that are taken up in advance of the ash-scraper E are loaded onto the shovel and held until they are dislodged at a point farther back. Hence if the shovel be tilted, as seen in Fig. 2, dotted lines, and worked or rocked on its runners D the for ward ashes are thus all brought back through the screen or open-work of the shovel proper to a place where they may be engaged by the cross-scraper E and all together return to the entrance of the furnace to be removed in any convenient way, by shoveling or otherwise. The downward projecting flange c on the bot tom O assists in this drawing back of the ashes, and in this way I am not only enabled to get the ashes to the entrance for removal, but of course to sift out the coal and the unburned cinders, to be saved as fuel, which is one of the objects of the invention; but the extra bottom 0 is one of the features of improvement over my former patent and which has been found desirable for the reason statedthat the shovel would sift the remote ashes through its open bottom and not leave them in an inaccessible place.

Obviously if it be found practicable or desirable the parallel strips 3 may be made of wire instead of being a part of the body of the sifter, as in the present case.

What I claim is- 1. In an ash-Sifter, an open-work shovelbottom and. a closed false bottom beneath the the rear of said close bottom, substantially as described.

4:. The shovel with an open-work bottom having runners on its sides, and an ashscraping plate pivoted between said runners, and a close false bottom in front of said ashscraping plate and forming a part of the said shovel, substantially as described.

-Witness my hand to the foregoing specification this 8th day of March, 1899.

JACOB KELLER.

lVitnesses:

H. E. MUDRA, R. B. MOSER. 

